Readings

(This list is complete up to the end of September 2020; for more recent things, see the reviews category.) A Aeschylus, The Oresteia Muammar Al Gathafi, The Green Book Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre, The Silent Executioner Eleanor Antin, Historical Takes Dore Ashton, The New York School B Nicholson Baker, U and I Honoré de Balzac, Treatise on […]

noted

Joseph McElroy & Frederic Tuten will read at 8 pm on December 9 at Happy Ending (302 Broome St.) as part of the Animal Farm reading series. I hope the MCing will not be as cringe-inducingly awful as the last Animal Farm event I ended up at. Competing reading: at the Swiss Institute (495 Broadway) at […]

november 16–november 24

Books Sergio De La Pava, A Naked Singularity Robert Walser, Answer to an Inquiry, trans. Paul North Franz Kafka, Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor, trans. James Stern & Tania Stern Films The Devil Is a Woman, directed by Josef von Sternberg Three on a Match, dir. Mervyn LeRoy Female, dir. Michael Curtiz Ins blaue hinein (Into the Blue), dir. […]

noted

My interview with Bob Stein is up at Triple Canopy as part of Issue 9. A thread at MetaFilter about Jack Green’s Fire the Bastards!. Tangentially related: David Markson’s library appears at The Strand; some of his Gaddis annotations have appeared online. Gary Shteyngart & Joshua Cohen on the Tablet podcast. More of Robert Walser’s poetry […]

danielle dutton, “attempts at a life”

Danielle Dutton Attempts at a Life (Tarpulin Sky, 2007) The first story in this book, “Jane Eyre,” effectively rewrites that novel as if it had been written by Robert Walser, with the short sentences, friendly appeal to the reader, and self-abasement of his narrators. It’s an exercise in compression: 400 pages become five and a half. Brontë’s […]

noted

The Dalkey Archive’s site has been redone, bringing some things to light: Evelyn Picon Garfield’s interview with Julio Cortázar, Anna Otten’s interview with Michel Butor, Frederic Tuten’s interview with Jerome Charyn. Ian Bracewell’s Walserings seems to be on show at QUAD in Derby. Various public appearances: I’m interviewing Bob Stein at Triple Canopy on February […]

my year in books, 2009

(alphabetized by author) Fiction Jessica Abel, La Perdida Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre, Fantômas (trans. unknown) Chloe Aridjis, Book of Clouds Paul Auster, City of Glass (adaptation by Paul Karasik & David Mazzucchelli) Donald Barthelme & Seymour Chwast, Sam’s Bar: An American Landscape Roberto Bolaño, Amulet (trans. Chris Andrews) Jane Bowles, Two Serious Ladies Jane […]

noted

A good piece at Design Observer (most interesting there in a long time, I think) by Martha Scotford about the publication and design of Ulysses. Most interesting slide: an advertisement in the Saturday Review of Literature where Random House explained “How to Enjoy James Joyce’s Great Novel Ulysses“. Three stories by Robert Walser, translated by […]

noted

Art by Dino Buzzati: here, here. (Belatedly) The Robert Walser Society of Western Massachusetts. Fiona MacCarthy returns to Eric Gill at the Guardian. A show inspired by Raymond Roussel at Yvon Lambert Paris.

september 12–september 17

Books Robert Walser, The Tanners (trans. Susan Bernofsky) Slavoj Žižek, The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity John Ashbery, And the Stars Were Shining Films Hallelujah, I’m a Bum!, directed by Lewis Milestone Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex), dir. Uli Edel Uncle Buck, dir. John Hughes La cifra impar (Odd […]